Cline faces 18 charges

STACY LANGLEY

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, June 28, 2005

BAD AXE  Huron County prosecutors charged a Pigeon man Tuesday with 17 felony charges, including a kidnapping charge that stems from disturbing scenes caught on videotapes of the man suffocating his blind wife with a plastic bag in what they believe was some sort of sexual ritual.

Prosecutors say they don't believe Stephen H. Cline, 43, was trying to kill his wife when he would "hog-tie" her, then place a plastic bag over her head and watch on as he videotaped her suffocating over and over again.

Cline was arraigned last week on a single felony charge of first-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult while prosecutors reviewed more videotapes and gathered additional evidence in the case before filing the latest list of charges.

Cline, who has been lodged in the Huron County Jail for more than a week, was brought back to the Huron County District Courtroom Tuesday afternoon where he appeared without his court appointed attorney, Douglas Lee of Bad Axe.

Cline said nothing as he sat before District Court Judge Karl E. Kraus with his arms folded tightly in front of him while Kraus listed each of the charges he's facing, starting with the most severe charge of kidnapping, That charge carries a possible sentence, if convicted, of up to life in prison.

Huron County Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner said one of the hurdles in the case was finding charges that fit the disturbing circumstances.

Gaertner said that Cline, a former EMT, would use his wife's diabetes to manipulate her consciousness while he would tie her up and then suffocate her before reviving her. When the victim awoke, Gaertner said, she would have no recollection of the events.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Stephen J. Allen said the kidnapping charge is fitting for the circumstances of this case which meet the elements of the kidnapping charge since the victim was secretly confined or imprisoned against her will.

The 17 charges of abuse of a vulnerable adult Cline faces carry a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison, if he's convicted.

Allen said the alleged abuse against Cline's wife came to light due to good head's-up police work  and luck.

Allen said he believes that when Pigeon police Officer Colleen Emerick showed up at Cline's apartment door in Pigeon, she may have interrupted Cline as he was in the midst of suffocating his wife.

"A lot of credit is to be given to Officer Colleen Emerick for uncovering this crime," Allen said.

Emerick was stopping at the apartment to investigate possible abuse by Cline against his wife, which was reported by a friend of the victim. Allen said Emerick entered Cline's information into the Law Enforcement Information Network before arriving at the apartment door and found out Cline had an outstanding warrant for his arrest on an unrelated charge.

Prosecutors said when Emerick arrested Cline and took him out of the apartment, he seemingly didn't have time to clean up some of the evidence left behind  which was later found by his wife. That evidence includes ropes Cline allegedly used to tie her up, along with a digital camera with numerous photos of the acts. Later, three videotapes also were found by the victim and turned over to police.

Allen said Cline's wife, who is blind, asked a neighbor to look at the images on the camera and the videotapes. That's when police were called back to the apartment and the case began to unfold. Allen said up until that time, Cline's wife was unaware of what kind of abuse she was suffering due to the fact she was unconscious during the acts.

"She had no real way of knowing  she thought he was taking good care of her," he said.

Cline was not charged with any crime in Huron County at the time Emerick initially arrested him at the Pigeon apartment.

After Cline was released early from the Wayne County Jail  where he was supposed to be serving a six month sentence on an unrelated offense  Huron County law enforcement officials tracked him down and picked him up in the Detroit area June 17 and returned him to Huron County to face the current charges.

Cline's preliminary examination on the first charge of abuse of a vulnerable adult was scheduled for Thursday. Kraus said the preliminary examination will not take place at that time, but they'll review the status of the case Thursday and set a date for the preliminary examination on all of the charges.

During the arraignment Tuesday afternoon, Gaertner asked the court to increase Cline's bond, which was set at $75,000/10 percent. Gaertner said due to the kidnapping charge, Cline is facing a life offense. He said out of concern for public safety  and that Cline might be a flight risk  he was asking for bond to be set at $100,000 cash. Kraus said based on the additional charges, Cline's bond would be set at $150,000/10 percent.